Noam Chomsky is obsessed with convincing every audience he can reach
to follow his lead in ignoring the vital importance of fully
respecting the Palestinian refugees inalienable right to return- a
basic human right affirmed and reaffirmed again and again by the
United Nations formally and officially since 1948.

I suspect if Chomsky's own security, his own inheritance and his own
home and citizenship and his own ability to find and keep a job or
an audience were on the line, he'd be much less inclined to endorse,
promote, and whitewash Israels' cruel refusal to respect the
Palestinians' basic human rights, including but not limited to the
Palestinian refugees right to return to original homes and lands to
live in peace.

And I suspect if he were a Palestinian trapped in the territories
Israel illegally occupies, forced to deal day in and day out with
sovereign Israeli insanities, he'd have a very different stance on
nonviolent Boycott campaigns... But I don't think one needs to
endorse BDS to be a firm believer in the importance of the universal
right to return.

For most people on planet earth the Israel-Palestine conflict is an
intellectual exercise with many different motivations for watching
the news and weighing in- for some it is an emotional quest; for
some it is a religious obsession; for some it is a job; for some it
is a puzzle; for some it is entertainment; for some it is a chance
to be an agent provocateur; for some it is an opportunity to be a
bigot; for some it is an ego trip...etc... but for the Palestinians
and their kith and kin it is a day in and day out harassment campaign
and a never ending nightmare where refugees become refugees over and
over and over, because clearly Israel wants the land but not the
native non-Jewish population of that land.

I think ending the Israel-Palestine conflict as soon as possible
with a fully secular two state solution based on full respect for
international law and universal basic human rights ( including but
not limited to the right to return to original homes and lands to
live in peace) is the best way forward- for everyone's sake.

Iraqi
Christians flee homes amid militant push:
During the past 11 years, at least half of the country's
Christian population has fled the country, according to
some estimates, to escape frequent attacks by Sunni Muslim
militants targeting them and their churches.

Ziad
J. Asali: Crisis in Iraq Risks Regional Conflagration:
" Iraqi Shiites will continue to defeat their own purposes
if they attempt to marginalize the Sunni community in a
sectarian and exclusionary manner. Iraqi Sunnis cannot
achieve their own goals by banding together around
fanatical extremists."

The
saga of Prof. Dajani is a subset of a broader Arab
struggle between the forces of intelligence and
stupidity: "The whole Arab world is at a
turning point. If it continues to allow the stupidity and
ignorance lobby, in all its myriad forms, to insist on
cultural insularity, chauvinism, and deafness to the
outside world, it will remain utterly stuck and unable to
successfully join and compete in a globalizing world. But
if the intelligence and knowledge constituency, as
embodied by Prof. Dajani and so many other important
leading Arabs, succeed in turning their societies away
from decades of enforced parochialism, they will be among
the most important groups in building a better future for
the Middle East." Hussein Ibish

The American
Task Force on Palestine supports Palestinian
institution-building, good
governance, anti-corruption measures, economic
development, and improved living standards. ATFP
holds that these same values are relevant to
the broader Arab world, and that the question of
Palestine is inextricably linked to regional
realities and developments.

ATFP provides an independent
voice for Palestinian-Americans and their supporters
and advances human rights and peace. It
categorically and unequivocally condemns all
violence against civilians, no matter the cause and
who the victims or perpetrators may be.